Then Shall I Knell

Now listen to me, my Lover; is there love as sweet as love this? Then lo! wither thou art, there in that far wall a single flower is frozen, and through the hole is a voice. See her pretty breast, whereon there kisses I beat, till from the wall I hear her song on the steps. Is it I?—no, but it's my own. I have never known thy love; I have never said that I loved thee; But now the walls that kept her apart have let me in, and I can say it. At the sight of it all the tender thoughts of love of that sad flower Come and they tread Upon the blooming thoughts of me. Now I hold the flower, and play with her rosy lips; I kiss the blade of thorns, I seize the stem, and press my lips against the petal. It is not my flower, it is not my love; It is but her sadness and her grief. I hold it and let it go. We are equal in tears: And this sad flower When it is once freed Shall come and say How sad she was! Again I kiss her stem, And pass from the courtyard. And then shall I knell. :: 07.05.2022 ::